What the Mike Vick Paycut Might Mean For the Jets

"I’ve already seen some comments in the Twitterverse and around the web that somehow the restructure of Mike Vick’s contract somehow means something for Mark Sanchez. It doesn’t. They are completely different deals. Sanchez has a contract in which 100% of his base salary is guaranteed with no offset provisions. Vick had 19.4% of his base guaranteed with offset language. The cap hit to release Sanchez would be enormous. The Eagles would have gained cap room. That said this restructure could play a role for another Jet- Santonio Holmes.

In my Jets writeup from the other week I suggested a restructuring of the deal for Holmes based primarily on the fact that the Jets could gain cap room by threatening a release and the fact that not all of his salary is guaranteed. While some of the feedback I got was positive some of the negative feedback focused on players not giving up money unless they get something in return and how Holmes would have no reason to accept such a deal. Vick is 100 times the star that Holmes is. He is a more well known and spectacular player. He just agreed to a paycut and a pretty significant one at that.

Based on reports Vick has the potential, and I stress the word potential, to earn $10 million dollars in 2013. That is a far cry from the $15.5 million he was set to earn. At one point he indicated he would not play for a penny less. Clearly that was lip service and once he surveyed the market he realized his best option was sticking in Philadelphia. So Vick will need to earn that $10 million. My gut feeling is that they gave him a $3 million dollar signing bonus (the amount of his guarantee) a low base salary, roster bonuses tied to being on the gameday active roster, and numerous incentives for certain game related performance such as yards or touchdowns. This would be similar to what the Jets did with Chad Pennington in 2006.

The similarities between Vick and Holmes are pretty striking. While Holmes’ guarantee is higher the Jets would create cap room with a release. Both have offsets in their contract meaning they were pretty much capped out on salary they could earn. In Holmes’ case it is his $7.5 million guarantee and in Vicks was likely between $5 and $6 million which we will know is the case if that turns out to be the base value of Vick’s one year deal. Both are coming off injury making incentivizing a contract simple. Both have years remaining on their deals. Vick was willing to void his. Holmes could easily do the same. With only $2.5 million in dead money on the books in 2014 for Holmes the Jets can give him a low bonus if they wanted to and likely match the same structure that Vick is using where his final two years void next March. That was strictly done for proration purposes- both to lower cap charges now and to protect from acceleration of old prorated money. Really the only glaring difference is age. Holmes is younger but plays a far less important position.

Now Im sure some are still saying that I’m crazy and Vick took a bad deal and it was just one wacky occurrence. Except I just want to point out one last similarity. Vick is represented by Joel Segal. Why is that important? That is the same agent that represents Holmes. So the Jets now have a real framework to approach Holmes. Same situation. Same agent. Same contract structure. So no it doesn’t affect Mark Sanchez one bit but it could be a powerful message about what is to come for one of the other cap constraining contracts on the team. "

Holmes wont do anything with his contract at all until he can play. The jets can't cut him, he still needs a second surgery later this month and says that he can not start his rehab until April. The jets can not cut him, he is injured.

Holmes wont do anything with his contract at all until he can play. The jets can't cut him, he still needs a second surgery later this month and says that he can not start his rehab until April. The jets can not cut him, he is injured.

I respect Jason's ideas but I do not want to touch anyone's contracts. Especially Holmes bc I would like to keep his dead money the same in 2014. Unless there is a way for us to save money this year and have him remain at a very cutable number in 2014.

Holmes wont do anything with his contract at all until he can play. The jets can't cut him, he still needs a second surgery later this month and says that he can not start his rehab until April. The jets can not cut him, he is injured.

They can release him with an injury settlement, Jason's article is absolutely valid, his injury status actually gives the Jets leverage.

No, he starts his rehab. I don't know of any athlete that played less than 1 year after liz franc surgery. Duece Staley and Eric Rhett never played again. I think a lot of
fans here don't understand that homes may never play again, never mind play this year..

No, he starts his rehab. I don't know of any athlete that played less than 1 year after liz franc surgery. Duece Staley and Eric Rhett never played again. I think a lot of
fans here don't understand that homes may never play again, never mind play this year..

That would be great!! I'm ready to move on from him plus he is a douche and I believe in karma.

No, he starts his rehab. I don't know of any athlete that played less than 1 year after liz franc surgery. Duece Staley and Eric Rhett never played again. I think a lot of
fans here don't understand that homes may never play again, never mind play this year..

Matt Schaub played a year after having lisfranc surgery. I used to believe that if you needed surgery that was much harder to come back than players who didn't need surgery for that injury. My foot doctor set me straight and said that wasn't the case. ..

No, he starts his rehab. I don't know of any athlete that played less than 1 year after liz franc surgery. Duece Staley and Eric Rhett never played again. I think a lot of
fans here don't understand that homes may never play again, never mind play this year..

Matt Schaub played a year after having lisfranc surgery. I used to believe that if you needed surgery that was much harder to come back than players who didn't need surgery for that injury. My foot doctor set me straight and said that wasn't the case. ..

My recollection was that Schaub did not require surgery as his injury was more close to the type of injury severity suffered by Jones Drew

As Tuesday unfolded, it became more and more clear that the Jets’ assessment that receiver Santonio Holmes will miss “weeks” more accurately is “months.”

Per multiple reports, Holmes has a Lisfranc injury that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season.

The “L” word was one of the first uttered on Sunday by those close to the action when attempting to get a feel for Holmes’ condition. Named for a French surgeon from the 1800s who first diagnosed the common horse-riding injury, the mid-foot sprain/fracture is an affliction that strikes several NFL players per year. The most notable victim of the Lisfranc injury in 2011 was Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, who had surgery and missed the rest of the season.

Getting back to the topic. My foot doctor says non surgery and surgery have no bearing if a player able to come back from that injury. It the degree of the injury. He says sometimes surgery works better than non surgery.

As Tuesday unfolded, it became more and more clear that the Jets’ assessment that receiver Santonio Holmes will miss “weeks” more accurately is “months.”

Per multiple reports, Holmes has a Lisfranc injury that is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season.

The “L” word was one of the first uttered on Sunday by those close to the action when attempting to get a feel for Holmes’ condition. Named for a French surgeon from the 1800s who first diagnosed the common horse-riding injury, the mid-foot sprain/fracture is an affliction that strikes several NFL players per year. The most notable victim of the Lisfranc injury in 2011 was Texans quarterback Matt Schaub, who had surgery and missed the rest of the season.

Getting back to the topic. My foot doctor says non surgery and surgery have no bearing if a player able to come back from that injury. It the degree of the injury. He says sometimes surgery works better than non surgery.

Well what I understood was that the recovery period started after the surgery was complete. if he did not have the surgery, at the start of the season it would have been almost a year since the injury and 9 months since he started rehab. The earliest Holmes will start rehab is 8 weeks after the plate is removed later this month. 4 months after starting rehab the season begins. Thus my statement that Homes may never play this year or ever.

My statement was in response to the possibility of the jets threatening to cut him, and my response that they can not cut a person who is rehabbing unless an injury settlement is reached. With the real possibility of Holmes
never playing again, there is little chance of him reaching an injury settlement with the jets prior to the season.